Congratulations!

Just a quick blog post to say a HUGE congratulations to my great friends and fabulous writers (and Salt authors) Carys Davies and Susannah Rickards - Carys is the winner and Susannah one of two runners-up (with Frank O'Connor award-winner Simon Van Booy) of the highly prestigious Society of Authors Olive Cook award!

To read more of Carys' stories, get hold of her book, Some New Ambush (Salt). Susannah's collection will be published by Salt later this year. (Read a review of Simon Van Booy's Love Begins in Winter on The Short Review)

Brief news from me: A lovely lovely meeting with the Clifton Library Book Group where I heard that wonderful line which I never tire of hearing: "I never normally read short stories, but now that I've read your book...." They bought 6 copies, which is an added bonus, it is just wonderful to sit and chat about stories in general with such an interested and fascinating group of readers. 

I also had a great time at the Bristol Festival of Nature - the University asked me to write two flash stories, one for each of the University tents at the festival - and they printed them out with spaces for kids to illustrate the stories. An interesting experience; I don't write for kids so tried to at least make it not unsuitable for children. I hope it was vaguely successful! I was there at the Festival, encouraging kids  - and their parents - to do some drawing. It was fun!

And I forgot to mention the excellent Waterstone's Brighton event for 100 Stories for Haiti last week (long long week) - it was a moving occasion, a true tribute and proof of how one man -in this case Greg McQueen - can and is making a difference. If you don't have your copy, find out more here. All proceeds to the Red Cross efforts in Haiti.






I've had some interesting invites in the last two days but can't say anything yet. More soon!

Audiobook of 100 Stories for Haiti, and I have a revelation

Wonderful news! The fabulous fundraising 100 Stories for Haiti is now available as an audiobook, with 20 selected stories, including Mugs. Another way to support the Red Cross' work in Haiti - and be highly entertained at the same time. Get it on Audible.co.uk, Audible.com or iTunes. I can't wait to listen to it.

In other news, I had a revelation last night. I was having a quiet night by myself, contemplating my writer-in-residence position, which I am very much enjoying, but which right now lacks any sort of structure or set project. And suddenly something presented itself as a solution... so now I think I can say I am working on a new book! I am not going to go into details right now, because I am a little nervous that if I talk about it in public it may dissolve or sound ridiculous. But I am pretty excited because it's not just more short stories, it is something that is a new intellectual challenge for me, and something I think  - I hope - is fairly innovative. Anyway, I might reveal more in due course, but I feel relieved to have found myself a framework within which to carry out this residency and some kind of end product to work towards.Phew!

Let's hope I don't wake up tomorrow thinking it's all a terrible mistake.This is all new to me, this first flush of excitement - I've never experienced this before, I had no idea when I was writing the stories in The White Road that they might be a collection. I've never consciously worked on anything book-length from the start.

It seems to be similar to something I read over on Nik Perring's blog the other day. He interviews the wonderful Nicola Morgan, author of 90 - yes, ninety! - books, whose latest Wasted, is published on Monday. This is how she describes it when an idea comes to her:

First comes the idea for a new novel. Fabulous! (Literally, one might say). It hits me on the tongue like sherbet. If I’m in a supermarket, I will stop mid-aisle. Walking the dog, I’m likely to ignore the worst canine behaviour. At this point, I’m thinking, “Yesss! Why didn’t I think of this before?” Next, I fluctuate between excitement and a more prosaic, “Hmm, but such-and-such might be a problem later.” But over the following days, as the characters grow in my head, excitement mounts and doubts fade. I am about to start to write.

A lovely way to describe it, excitement mixed with doubt. Nicola then says it's

"damned terrifying because it’s the start of a long and unknown journey. When I sat down to write the first page of Sleepwalking, my third novel, I actually said aloud, “Oh God, here we go,” taking a huge breath to summon the strength. Many blank pages stretch ahead, and they won’t fill themselves." 

Yes. Exactly. Not, I want to stress, that I am working on a novel. No, definitely not. But I can imagine it being book-length, and possibly rather undefinable. Almost definitely completely uncommercial! But that actually makes it easier to contemplate. The thought that no-one will ever publish it, that I am doing it for me, makes it far easier to jump off this cliff. I hope!